Social Media a Great Call for EMA and Russell Athletic

09.11.2008

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Winners of the recent Russell Athletic online Play-by-Play contest headed to New Orleans July 27 for the ArenaBowl XXII in the Superdome. The trip was the grand prize awarded to the finalist who called the best play-by-play, according to voters in an online experiential program designed by Eric Mower and Associates (EMA) working with Russell Athletic, a leading athletic apparel company.

Faced with creating a new and exciting promotion on a lean budget, the promotion leveraged Russell’s newly signed deal with the Arena Football League (AFL). The goal of the program was to create a buzz, capture the attention and imagination of young men aged 18 to 24, and drive sales during the promotional period.

Social media networking turned out to be the ideal means of connecting with the target audience.

“EMA designed the promotional program where contestants picked from five game plays and submitted voice recordings of a play-by-play call,” said Nicole Rose, management supervisor, EMA. “The top 10 calls were posted on Russell’s promotional site and visitors were given 10 days to vote for the best call. The site received more attention during the voting phase than at any other time during the promotion.”

EMA pushed Russell’s promotional site out to social networking sites such as Digg.com; StumbleUpon.com; Delicious.com; Reddit.com; and Fark.com. In support of the contest and sports specialty retailers’ in-store promotion, EMA developed a FaceBook page, YouTube video links, and a Twitter blog discussing the promotion. A Russell “Top 10 Greatest Calls of All Time List” was submitted to the social bookmarking sites for visitors’ reactions.Visitors to the Russell promotional site were referred from ArenaFootball.com, Freebeerandwings.com, StumbleUpon and others.

About Mower

Mower is a digitally-integrated independent marketing, advertising and public relations agency. With 165 professionals in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, and Syracuse, Mower delivers strategic insights, digital solutions, smart creative, and award-winning results to clients. Part of two global agency networks — thenetworkone and IPREX — as well as the 4A’s.